Fishing vessels fined for intentionally disconnecting monitoring

According to data extracted from the fishing vessel monitoring data system of Quang Ninh Sub-Department of Fisheries, from 2020 to mid-August 2023, Quang Ninh province has a total of 115 fishing vessels exploiting the high seas that have lost connection to the monitoring system inshore and offshore.

From 2020 to the end of 2022, the whole province has 34 fishing vessels belonging to the localities of Co To, Tien Yen, Uong Bi, Van Don, Hai Ha, Quang Yen and Mong Cai lost connection to the inshore fishing vessel monitoring system.

According to the Law on Fisheries, ships operating on offshore routes with a length of 15 m or more are required to install cruise monitoring devices. Currently, out of a total of 6,002 fishing vessels in the province, 233 vessels are operating on the high seas with a length of 15 m or more and all have been fitted with cruise monitoring equipment, reaching the rate of 100%. However, there are still many fishing vessels operating on the high seas with the problem of not maintaining the connection of cruise monitoring equipment as prescribed.

From the beginning of 2023 until now, the number of fishing vessels in the province that have been disconnected from the inshore fishing vessel monitoring system has increased sharply, up to 81 vessels. At the top spot, Quang Yen town has 29 ships, followed by Hai Ha district with 20 ships, Uong Bi city with 9 ships, Van Don district with 8 ships, Ha Long city with 8 ships, Cam Pha city with 6 ships and Mong Cai city with 1 ship.

Mr Do Dinh Minh - Director of the Quang Ninh Sub-Department of Fisheries (under the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that the installation of equipment to connect the monitoring system for fishing vessels on the high seas is to conduct cruise monitoring so that authorities can check and trace the fishing vessel's fishing process at sea in the right area and check whether it crosses the maritime boundary. This is also a mandatory regulation that is being focused on by the province to overcome the warnings of the European Commission about combat against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Quang Ninh.

However, according to Mr Minh, the detection and handling of fishing vessels that do not maintain cruise monitoring during operation are facing many difficulties.

“The fishing vessel lost its monitoring connection for many reasons. The first is when they return to shore, they have to remove the battery and lose connection. Second, when at sea, the monitoring equipment is damaged. These errors can only be reminded and propagated, but it is difficult to sanction," Mr Minh said.

To strengthen the management of fishing vessels violating regulations on supervision, over the past time, the staff of the Sub-Department of Fisheries have regularly coordinated with other sectors to inspect at sea. Many cases of fishing vessels violating regulations on monitoring and failing to maintain cruise monitoring equipment during their operations at sea have therefore been detected and administratively sanctioned. Violating vessel owners are fined VND 20.5 million, and they will also be deprived of the right to use the fishing boat captain's certificate for 3.5 months.

“Those who were sanctioned were caught in the act. During the operation at sea, the functional forces at the ship's inspection found that the monitoring device was not damaged but the ship owner did not turn it on, this is a subjective error. In addition, many ships intentionally unplugging the device or impacting the device to lose connection will be dealt with," Mr Minh said.

Mr Do Dinh Minh added that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is studying and adding 6 more cold penalty devices to handle IUU violations of fishing vessels. just like what the police do with road vehicles. Along with that, the ministry will continue to invest in upgrading infrastructure to synchronously solve fishing problems.

Previously, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province issued Official Dispatch No. 2219/UBND-NLN1 focusing on directing and implementing to thoroughly overcome the shortcomings of combat against illegal, undeclared and unregulated (IUU) fishing issued by the European Commission (EC) in the province.

Notably, from September 1, Quang Ninh will open a peak period of patrolling, handling, seizing and banning all fishing vessels from IUU fishing by regulations. Penalize at the highest level for ship owners, and captains with acts of not registering, recording, and not installing cruise monitoring equipment, and fishing vessels that have been installed with equipment but lost the signal to monitor the journey at sea.

In addition, for cases with no fishing license, food safety certificate/commitment; failing to record or submit fishing logs/reports; using fishing gear banned from fishing, and failing to comply with inspection and control when ships docked or left port. There will be penal sanctions against ship owners and captains who re-offend.

The People's Committee of Quang Ninh province stated that the heads of the Party Committees, district and commune administrations and relevant functional units are responsible for the results of implementing measures against IUU fishing, overcoming the EC's "yellow card" warning in the locality and unit.

The localities of Mong Cai, Hai Ha, Dam Ha, Tien Yen, Don, Co To, Cam Pha, Ha Long, Quang Yen, Uong Bi and Dong Trieu before August 30, 2023, must complete registration, register, issue fishing licenses, issue food safety certificate/commitment, update fishing vessel data on Vnfishbase for 3,768 fishing vessels with length from 6 meters to less than 12 meters in the area under management.

At the same time, urgently complete the establishment of information links (Zalo group...) to manage fishing vessels in the locality (including the Chairman of the District People's Committee, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and the owners of fishing boats in the area). This is to monitor, check and regularly manage the status of the connection status of the cruise control (VMS) of fishing vessels, promptly handling when the local fishing vessel loses connection by regulations.

Take responsibility for receiving and handling information about local fishing vessels that have lost connection according to regulations when there is information on the list of disconnected ships from the authorities sent to the Zalo group.

“The chairpersons of the local People's Committees are fully responsible before the Provincial People's Committee, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the law on the results of implementing solutions to combat IUU fishing, correct EC 'Yellow Card' warnings locally; ensure all fishing vessels are registered, issue a fishing license by regulations and fully update the national database of fishing vessels VNFishbase; and the quality and performance of the fishing vessel control team in the locality," stated the document of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province.